A Day of Firsts

In an effort to keep this short and sweet I will list all of our firsts today:

• First day of Kindergarten for Scotland
• First day of full day preschool for Sullivan
• First day of preschool (period) for Paislee
• First time on the bus for Paislee
• First time missing the bus for Sully and Paislee (they were not put on the bus to come home)
• First time Scotland decided to walk out the front door on her own (while mom was changing clothes before our evening walk)
• First time having to pop-a-squat in someones yard so Paislee could potty while on said walk
• First time posting pics of the kids on the blog...thanks Craiger!

Now for the fun part...

I have to explain this first pic. Of course the camera was acting up and wouldn't take a quick pic. This led Sullivan to start making dumb faces which led to mom hollering at him. Then he started crying. Paislee's leg is red because her shoes have lights in them and Scotland isn't looking because she rarely does. This is how 95% of all of our group shots turn out these days.

Scotland's bus arrived first, and we knew it would. However, it was about 10 minutes early. Even though we had just headed outside to wait for the bus this rushed us and we didn't have time for a little pep-talk of what the day would hold. Scotland ended up getting rushed to the bus while mom snapped horrible pics along the way. You can tell in this pic that she's not impressed to be put on a bus with random strangers while mom and dad wave and shout "I love you". Just after this pic both mom and Scotland had a few tears...I'm proud to report that we both survived the day.

So after Scotland got on the bus and rode off to school we had some time to kill. I was able to get a semi-decent shot of Paislee and Sullivan.

Getting on the bus for the first time, for Paislee. Sully is a pro!

Kindergarten wears a girl out. I was first upset that she wasn't in the car seat that we listed in her IEP...then I asked Craig (he's the one who got her off the bus) and realized that she's strapped into the seat tight enough that it held her in while she was limp.

She managed to wake up a little bit, but was tired all night.

Paislee and Sully as they arrived home after mom had to pick them up.

Here's the hubs, Craiger. Doesn't he look impressed to have his pic taken. Those are his brand new Armani Exchange glasses that he's so proud of. Looking pretty good if I do say so myself, dumb face and all!

Here's a pic of me. I don't know why I didn't just take our pic together...we both would likely have looked better.

And here's Baby Hogan, 25 weeks

In other news, I am excited to start my birthing class. I've signed up for a Christian Birthing Class that will be held at a local church. It starts next week and goes for 8 weeks. This will get me to within about 6 weeks of my due date. Hopefully I will learn and practice all the relaxation and coping methods I need in order to survive a natural delivery...I'm so excited!!

And while we're on the baby train I have to explain my new, legitimate nickname. The Clark-Maker. This is not just any nickname that one would give themselves. This came straight from Craig's grandma, and I am proud to hold the title of Clark-Maker, it is an honor! As long as Craig will let me I will keep kicking out Clarks!

I think that is all for now. So for all of you random followers who I don't really know, I hope you enjoy my family. I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of things that I've tried to remember to mention since my last post 2 weeks ago, but for now I'm done. This post has taken way too long to post because I keep having trouble with formatting. If you're lucky ;) I'll post again tomorrow.

I'm tired

I've been lacking in the energy department this week. One minute I'm feeling great and the next I just want to sleep, wherever I am...the car, my office, at home. I blame it on the fact that I'm growing a human inside me, see...

But in all reality it is likely due to not sleeping well, because of said human growing inside me, poor diet and lack of exercise, see...
Yep, that's a big bag of M&M's that I nearly finished last night
And this is the huge box of Milk Duds that I ate today at work...I have a problem.

I truly feel that if I had not had the issues at the beginning of this pregnancy I would have been able to keep up my running/working out routine. Instead, I had to take it easy for a few weeks and then lost all motivation. I know women do it, but I feel really weird trying to run with a pregnant belly. Sure, there are other things I would do for exercise but, ehh, I'll just lounge around instead. Perhaps once the weather finally cools down I'll feel like doing more.

Speaking of doing more, as soon as my fabric arrives I will be making curtains! Here is 1 yard of the fabric hanging up for "make sure I like it" purposes.

I think this fabric is going to add the fun punch of color that my house has been lacking. I'm very excited to get the whole house transformed to meet our needs and personalities...we're a pretty vibrant bunch.

On another note, you'll notice this post is simply all over the place with topics, I feel more and more that I am up to the challenge of natural childbirth. Just the other day I bought "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Natural Childbirth". How can I go wrong with a title like that?! The more I read the more excited and up to the challenge I feel I am. I guess it must just be a phase I am in. Last year was my first half marathon, followed by my second half marathon, a 5K run/8 mile bike race, a sprint triathlon, and what was supposed to be my first full marathon. I feel the urge to challenge myself these days...and since it can't be by a physical competition I guess I'll settle for hours of unmedicated labor followed by pushing a small watermelon out of...well, you know.

To save you time reading more random ramblings here are the random thoughts I had today:

• Doesn't it suck to have a song you love to belt out in the car but it isn't in the right pitch range for you? By the time the song is over my throat and neck hurt from straining to hit some of those notes. And boy do I sound awesome!!! ha ha ha
• Lawn mowers, although they have motors, are still not cars. Stop driving them on the road as if they were.
• Please don't interrupt a pregnant lady from her lunch for a mundane question that you could figure out on your own. We don't like that.
• The older I get, the more bold I am and the shorter my fuse gets. I've always considered myself somewhat timid in some environments, but what I'm finding is that if I am challenged in that environment there is no timidness to be found. Its funny how you learn so much about yourself as you age.

I'm sure there were more thoughts but I can't remember them now. I'll try to right them down from now on and maybe I'll have more tomorrow.

Where to begin...

It has been another 2 weeks since my last post. I can't tell if I'm just lazy, tired or busy...perhaps a little of each. The month of July is almost over already. I managed to take 2 weeks of it off from work and a lot has been accomplished at my house...and a lot has yet to be accomplished. Here's a brief run-down:

• Potty training w/ Scotland
• Repainting kitchen cabinets
• Repainting kitchen walls
• Repainting living/dining room
• Surviving a week of 100 degrees at the NEMO Fair
  

As you can see (and as I think I mentioned in my previous post), I've made it my goal to totally redecorate my house by the time Mr. Hogan arrives. Yes, his name will be Hogan Eric Clark!!! We will likely call him Hogie (which happens to be Craig's g-grandma's last name, but spelled Hoge).

Here are some pics of the living room...sorry, I don't have any before pics.

The entry way...Paislee's backpack hook is in between the other 2, she's quite excited about getting to use it this year.

As you can see I'm in desperate need of some color. I'm currently on the hunt for the perfect, colorful curtains. I'm really excited...if I can find them for less than a fortune!

This is the view from the couch. You can see my single yellow accent...the basket holding the plant above the TV.


I'm really craving something similar to this for my curtains. I was going to play it somewhat safe with a simple, classic yellow pattern of color...but who can resist this!

I'll try to stay on the ball and post a 22 week belly pic tomorrow. There hasn't been a whole lot more growth but the kicks have become more frequent!

Half Baked

Today I am 20 weeks along, yes, this baby boy is half baked! I'm still feeling great with some fatigue here and there and lower back pain only when I do too much. I'm still on the pain med-free delivery plan and I've got 3 books to read on the subject. Now I just need to find the time to sit down and read them. Craig is now on-board with the natural plan too...if he can keep his cool, and help me keep mine, he'll be an awesome labor coach.

We found out a couple of weeks ago that Clark baby #4 is indeed a boy. Our house will now be gender equal; although we all know the females will still have the upper hand in the house. Just this last week I've finally really started feeling the baby kick more. There have been a couple that I've felt on the outside of my belly but Craig still can't. I can't wait for the kicks to become a little stronger so that everyone can feel and enjoy them. I think the kids will be super excited once they can feel him kick.

I've thrown out several baby names and Craig has shot the majority of them down rather quickly. We've had a couple that we've both kept on our lists and I have to say that I now have my top choice decided. Once it clicks it is hard to ignore. I think I'll be pushing to get my way on this one...although Craig does still like the name too, he just hasn't been ready to commit yet.

Did I mention we're repainting our kitchen cabinets and I was up til 2:30am and midnight both nights last weekend...talk about doing too much! I'll be glad when that project is over. My problem is that I find these super cute blogs that I start following and my new blog of choice is The Pleated Poppy. I absolutely love this blogger's house. It is cute, trendy, functional and kid friendly.

When we first bought our house and started working on it I made the mistake of playing it safe and going a little more classic than my true liking. Now that we are expecting our 4th child and have 3 others running around, finger-printing up everything, spilling drinks, playing in food, peeing and/or pooping here or there (accidents only, of course), I want a house that matches our personalities and lifestyle better. My goal is to pretty much redecorate my house very similar to The Pleated Poppy's.

So back to the cabinets. We originally painted our cabinets high-gloss black. We were going for a little more modern look and this is what Craig wanted...this was about the only decision I let Craig make at this time, and I should have intervened! High-gloss black shows everything and is a pain to repaint. The paint color we chose is called Clay Beige and it is an off-white.

We sanded and sanded and created the biggest dust storm I've ever seen in a house. We had taped up plastic to close off the kitchen in hopes of keeping the mess contained but it did not help. We now have the bases finished, the doors primed and the mess cleaned up. I'm hoping we will get the doors finished and rehung this weekend and I can move on to repainting the living room on our main level a light gray. This is more of the formal living room that we don't really use much...but the family room that we use ALL THE TIME is going to be a nice shade of yellow. I'm so excited for the finished product!

On another note, I was off last week potty-training Scotland. She will be starting Kindergarten in August and really needs to get a grasp of the concept. We didn't master it last week but she is at least cooperating a lot more than she was. She still refuses to tell us when she needs to go but if we take her every 30 mins she'll do her business as needed. Hopefully the progress will continue.

So I was off last week, I'm working this week, and then I'm off again next week. Yes, I took a week of vacation for the NEMO Fair. Before you start judging me let me explain that while I will admit that I do really enjoy the fair, my main reason for taking the whole week off is so the kids can enjoy the animal shows during the day and the carnival rides with hopefully less crickers to compete with. Mom and dad take their camper and we pretty much have supper out there each night and just enjoy getting out of the house and people watching. Trust me, if you've never been to the NEMO Fair, it is a spectacle to behold.

So, here's to a quick week of work before another weekend of redecorating and a week of fun at the fair with the kids!

Wow, long time no blog!

I've obviously been busy and/or distracted for the last several weeks. I apologize for the lack of updates. I've mainly been settling into the idea that I am actually pregnant and that we are officially going to outgrow our house come late November. This should be fun!

As for all the issues I was previously having, they've pretty much all stopped. I was the annoying pregnant woman who called the doc's office about once a week...if not more. I've just never had any issues with my other pregnancies and the bleeding really made me uneasy. At about 14 weeks it all cleared up and I've been fine since. Still no morning sickness and I am thankful for that. I'm tired from time to time and get winded if I try to walk and talk at the same time. Fun times while giving campus tours at work. One girl asked me if I needed to sit down!

I am currently 16 weeks and 1 day along. I'm definitely showing and my clothes are no longer fitting. My work attire is a select rotation of about 4 dresses and 2 pairs of pants (that work somewhat). My home attire is comprised of anything stretchy. Craig is really tired of all the elastic waste, loose fitting pants. I pretty much look like a slob as soon as I get home.

I pee all the time and hate having to get out of bed in the middle of the night to do it. I'm hungry all the time. I eat all day long, this, that, and whatever I can get my hands on. I was very pleasantly surprised to weigh myself Monday and see that I had not gained any weight since the day I weighed myself and was so disappointed that I had been running and the scale hadn't budged (down) at all. Of course that was before I knew I was pregnant.

I can feel the baby move (I think) a little here and there, but there are no big kicks and punches yet. I can't wait for the kids to start feeling them. I think they'll really get a "kick" out of it all. I've only had 1 OB appt so far and have my next one next Thursday. I'm very eager to get the next ultrasound scheduled so we can find out what we're having. I thought I would be able to keep it a surprise, but as we get further and further along I just can't wait to find out. At first my gut told me it was a girl, then I was thinking boy. Then I had a dream that it was a girl, and now I just don't know.

I've really been considering a natural childbirth this time and think I'll attempt it. Craig says this is our last, I'm not happy with this, and if it is that means its my last chance at every "doing it the hard way." After chatting it up with a friend who gave birth to her 3rd baby on her bathroom floor I am pretty excited and think I can do it...not have the baby on my bathroom floor, I think I can go the natural route.

Craig was quite skeptical to start but has warmed up to the idea of a natural childbirth if it is something I want. I explained that I could hire a doula but didn't really know if either one of us (Craig or I) would like a 3rd person in the room. Later on the same evening I told him how I'd research different massage techniques and pressure points that he could hit during labor to relieve some of the pain for me. He quickly piped up "I thought you were going to hire someone to do that?! I don't want that pressure on my shoulders!" So, who knows. I'm not sure I'm ready to talk to a doula at this point; however, I'm very excited to start reading some books and practicing some relaxation techniques.

Can I also say that the kids have been driving us nuts! If they keep this up I might be more on board with stopping at 4. Scotland still just keeps to herself and doesn't cause much trouble. Sullivan and Paislee, on the other hand, love to hate each other. They're constantly aggravating each other and us too! One is stealing the other's toys and mimicking everything the other one does. IT IS NON-STOP! I'm an only child...I had no idea that this is not just a stage/phase. I had no idea this will be the way it is until they're out of my house and on to college. What am I going to do with a 4th child! I'm a little distressed by all of this. Craig simply looks at me and says, "You don't get it. You were an only child. They act that way because they hate each other." I said, "No, they don't hate each other, Craig." He quickly responded, "ya, to a certain extent they do." Not really what I wanted to hear...could be a long 14 more years (til Sully's off to college).

Woo, I'm glad I'm not just getting fat...

This explains A LOT! Let's count back...

~GoSTL! Half Marathon on April 10th, totally sucked and I wanted to die...6 weeks

~Arise 5K Run/8 Mile Bike on April 23rd, bleeding ordeal at mile 1 of bike...8 weeks

~TriFAHL Sprint Triathlon on April 30th, not as bad but still not great...9 weeks

~Bridge the Gap Half Marathon this morning, valid reason for skipping it...11 weeks PREGNANT!

Yep, you read it right...the Clarks are expecting baby #4 in late November. And no, we weren't expecting this and we weren't trying.

Long story short, I've had all the signs and symptoms but have been thrown off by the fact that I've been bleeding for the last 2 months. Come to find out I've just been pushing it too hard with my training because I didn't know I was pregnant. So for now I get to just sit back and take it easy for a bit. I'm stoked!


For those of you who want the whole story:
At the end of March my cycle just kept going and was on and off for about 2 weeks before I finally called the doctor. I was due to my annual so made the appointment and figured we'd talk about my issues then. Then I had to reschedule because I was still bleeding. I finally made it in the next week. We discussed it all and figured I just needed to switch pills. They even asked if I could be pregnant and I said no. I explained that technically I could be pregnant but it was so unlikely that we just moved on. when I had finished the current pack of pills I was on I started my new pack...just a week and a half ago.

So my issues continued but I never really considered pregnancy. I had been tired, I had been hungry, I had done poorly in my races, my boobs had even started hurting the last week or so. Logically, pregnancy was the answer; however, I was thrown off by the bleeding. Finally I called the doctor again to explain that I was still bleeding and he recommended an ultrasound.

This was not a pregnancy ultrasound...this was a diagnostic ultrasound to find out what was going on with my uterus that would cause it to bleed for so long. I went for the ultrasound and was chatting with the tech when I thought I heard a heartbeat but figured it was just my own. The tech quickly turned down the volume and we continued talking as we were. Then she says, "well, Amanda, are you ready for your news?" I knew this was going to be exciting as techs usually can't tell you much when you're having diagnostics done. She says "You're 11 weeks pregnant!" I won't repeat my first few words...

I immediately called the doc to find out what needed to be done because I was still bleeding. Craig and I were quite concerned that something was wrong. The doc got back to me later that day and explained that everything looked great on the ultrasound and that if there was reason to worry we would...but at this time there wasn't. I just need to take it easy and stop training so much! Duh, if I had known I was pregnant I wouldn't have been training so hard in the first place.

I guess I'll schedule an OB check up in the next few weeks. Since this isn't my first rodeo and everything looks good the doc said there was no rush...and he swears I'm Catholic...I can repeat that, its ok because he's Catholic!

So that's the whole story...apparently after a 3 year break my radar was OFF!

I "Tri"ed, so you can now call me a Triathlete!

Yep, I did it. I competed in my first triathlon, TriFAHL. It was a sprint triathlon, which means the distances of the 3 events were shorter. TriFAHL was a 150 yrd SWIM, 6 mile BIKE and 2 mile RUN. I was quite nervous and skeptical leading up to the race. I was sure I would drown in the pool and not even make it to the bike or run.

Funny story about the swim...my expertise of swimming does not go beyond know how NOT TO DROWN. I have never swam laps (other than the 2 times I practiced before the race, which totaled an hour tops), I have never swam in a race...I've never really swam...more just float or jump off something into the water. I was sure it would take me a good 8+ minutes to swim the 150 yard. I could do 50 yards (1 down and back) in 1 min but I then had to stop and catch my breath for another 3 mins before doing another down and back.

Just before the race started they had us all line up according to how long we thought it would take us to swim the 150 yards. They started at 1:30 mins or less, then 2:00, 2:30, 3:00, 3:30, 4:00...and that was it. Sorry Grandma, but my first thought was "SHIT!" Not one swimmer was still standing there looking for the 5:00, 6:00, 7:00 or even 8:00. Well, 4:00 it was. I was quite happy to get near the back of the line (only 3 ladies behind me) only to find out that we weren't the 4+ min group but the "we have no idea how long it will take us" group. I was happy! I didn't want to be the very last person, so I pretended to be somewhere between the 3:30 and 4:00 min groups. Yes, I was unsure of how this was going to turn out.

So the first swimmer got in the water and they yelled "GO!" There were 20 secs between each swimmer as we started and followed or passed (in some cases) the swimmer ahead of us. I did not pass or get passed...again, very happy. Come to find out, it only took my 3:32 to swim...WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT! I'll admit, it wasn't pretty. I did the traditional freestyle with my face in the water, freestyle with my head above water gasping for air, a breaststroke or two, and the backstroke. Oh well, I did it nonetheless.


This was at the registration table before the race even started. They did a safety check on all the bikes. I was asking if my tires had enough air...I'm a clueless novice!


Then I was out of the water and running for my bike. I took my time during the transition so I was sure I didn't forget anything. I had to dry off a bit, put on some shorts, jacket, socks, shoes, and helmet. I also knew I needed to drink some water and eat some of my Sport Beans (sugar and caffine fill jelly beans, and for long races they make the world of difference for me). So I thought through everything to make sure I was fully ready to jump on my bike and hit the road. I had remembered everything; however, my transition time was not stellar. It actually took me 2 more seconds to transition from swimming to biking than it did to swim the 150 yards...FAIL!


Here I am on my bike. Not much else to report. Don't you love the pasty-pale look?! I look a little tense...it's because I'm thinking "don't wreck, don't wreck, don't wreck".


The 6 mile bike was just that...6 miles on a bike. Although most people count the bike portion the fastest part I don't. Biking is where I lose ground on my fellow racers (see my post from the bike/run I did a couple of weeks ago). I'm just not a fast biker and the mountain bike instead of road bike makes it even worse. It took me 30 mins to bike 6 miles, while most everyone else was between 22 and 27 mins...again, oh well. I biked back to the transition area, jumped off my bike, grabbed another drink of water and handful of Sport Beans and headed off to run the final 2 mile stretch.


On the home-stretch. Just climbed the last hill and straight for the finish line!


Not that I'm a fast runner, but running seems to be where I can make up some ground. I was able to pass a fair amount of racers who had passed me on the bike. This made me happy yet again. The 2 miles, although there were several hills, felt really good and I was able to keep up my pace. The run portion of my race was 14 mins and change. Although, I must admit that I was surprised that I had run 2 miles at a 7 minute/mile pace...so I mapped the run online only to find out it was more like 1.66 miles. Once again, oh well and who cares. I had finished my first triathlon and I felt fantastic.

This race was just what my ego needed. It had been bruised by the Go!STL Half Marathon and the Arise 5K run/8 mile bike races that I had done just weeks earlier. I was really starting to question whether I should continue to race. Now I'm back on track, training hard (somewhat hard or hard for me) and registered for my next half marathon in Quincy, IL on May 14th. I'm continuing my swim training, as this is a terrific way to do extra cardio work on top of running. Let me just tell you, SWIMMING.IS.HARDWORK! I plan to keep my training up all Spring and Summer and am "considering" the NEMO Triathlon on September 11th. The only issue with this is that NEMO is a full triathlon...this means 3/4 mile swim, 18 mile bike and 5 mile run. If all goes well I will be a finisher of the NEMO Triathlon!